Visit to Bangkok Zoo!

Last week I visited The Bangkok Zoo - known as Dusit Zoo!

Visit to Dusit Zoo!

I had the day off, it was sunny and I'm starting to tick things off my 'What to do in Bangkok' list - so I decided to visit the Zoo! I got the BTS to Phaya Thai station, then a 10 min motorbike taxi ride to the Zoo. Dusit is open every day from 8am to 6pm - tickets for foreigners cost 150 THB (£3.47). I got there just after 9 am and headed off to explore. The Zoo is not as big as what I'm used to in SA - its quite tiny in comparison to the JHB Zoo and the London Zoo too! I reckon you could do it in 30 min! It's also an extremely noisy Zoo - being right tin the heart of Bangkok - you can just hear traffic - those poor animals must never get any rest! Dusit also comes with is very own 7 eleven and kiddies water park right outside the tiger and lion enclosure - where you can cool off on a hot day and no doubt torture the tiger and lion with a snack they can never reach!

Me & the Animals!

I saw a Tapir (never seen one before), Bears, Hippos' Crocodiles, Snakes a plenty, Turtles,  a Tiger, Lions, a  Leopard, Gorillas, Monkeys, Giraffes, Zebras, Koalas, Flamingos, Penguins, a Camel and an Elephant! A lone Elephant named Jim that made me so sad as he was all alone - and especially as the info signs told you how much elephants love company and especially as Thailand is all about Elephants - there was only one! Poor Jim! I was also disappointed as this one lonely Elephant was confined to a very small little space. The enclosures we all clean, that I could not fault, but they were all horribly small  - my apartment is bigger than the Lions enclosure! There is a lot of construction going on too with plans of expanding their enclosures and making it more eco-friendly - hope it happens soon!  There is also not much Health and Safety going on there - between me and the bear was a tiny little moat - he could easily have jumped it - so could I! You could also easily hop in with the Crocs or Hippos for a selfie if you want to! 

There is a WHAT behind me?!?!?!

I left just before noon, I'd seen everything twice, it was crazy hot and the school busses were arriving - that was my cue to leave!

http://www.dusit.zoothailand.org/en/index.php

Paint Harder Evening at Pullman Grande!

Last week I attended the 'Work Hard Paint Harder' event at The Pullman Hotel.

I went with some of my Theatre buddies and so glad I did - it was such an awesome evening! Tickets cost 699 THB (£15.89) and included the canvas, paints, tutoring, 2 drinks and  yummy snacks! When we arrived we could choose between a mountain scene with oil paints or abstract nature scene using acrylic and oil. The abstract seemed the way to go - I'm no Picasso - but I gave it a shot!

Getting our paint on!

We started off making a background with the acrylics - I went for my favourite colours of the month - turquoise and purple. The artist who was running the workshop was super talented and had some of her work displayed! She made it look all to easy and kept reminding us to have the finished piece in our heads. I had no clue what was gonna happen on that canvas after the background.... not even the wine was helping the creative juices flow!

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I decided to do a flower scene and scratched some texture into it, but it looked more like a 'fan feather bower' - at least that was the constructive criticism I got. No matter what I added that little flower was definitely not a flower! And with every brush stroke I added looked more like someone chunked on it! I was feeling a bit deflated and like the canvas had been wasted on me!  'Look at it from a different angle' was another suggestion, so I turned it round and round and....voila! I transformed that sorry looking little flower wanna-be into a skirt and added a head and arms! It's better than what I had hoped for and in the end was happy with how it turned out! Definitely not what I had envisioned at the beginning - but hey - the fun was in not knowing what it would be!

My Masterpiece!?!

It was so much fun and a fantastic evening spent with such talented and wonderful ladies! I'm looking forward to the next 'Paint Harder' evening I get to unleash the creative juices - just hope they come out!

Talented Artists!

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Bangkok Planetarium

This morning I visited the Bangkok Planetarium!

 

It's located near Ekkami BTS and is part of the Science Centre for Education. I've walked past it a few times but never noticed the sign outside advertising an English show on Tuesdays at 10.00! Luckily, Ekkami BTS is a 15 min walk from my Condo, so off I set excited for my educational morning out. Tickets for the Planetarium cost 50 THB (£1.50) and and extra 30 THB (90p!) if you want to attend the Solar EnergyExhibition and Aquatics Centre. I was tempted to get the whole package - but the place was swamped with School Kids - so I just opted for the Planetarium show.

Bangkok Planetarium!

There is a small 'Planets' exhibit outside the theatre, although its all in Thai -you get the general idea. Once the doors opened school kids flooded inside, along with a few randoms - like me! It was pretty exciting waiting for show to start - I think I was just as excited as the kids! The show lasted 45 min and was split into 2 sections - first section was about the Bangkok Sky. The presenter told us what starts and planets that can be seen in the sky at night, what phase the moon is in and other bits of info about the sun and earth. The second section was a movie 'Flight Adventures' about flying, planes, spaceships and the science of flying. It was pretty cheesy, but cute and the kiddies loved it - and I loved it too too!

It was an interesting little morning out and I'm looking forward to having a looksie up above at the sky tonight !

Bangkok Planeterium

http://www.sciplanet.org/